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Friday, May 30, 2014

I want to share with you an easy and delicious dinner I whipped up on this Food Frenzy Friday!

I have to admit, I'm not good at making up my own recipes. I wish I had that talent and that pallet, but sadly, I don't. Although, this one time, something worked...I think it was the prosciutto! Can't go wrong with prosciutto!

Let me just tell you how to create this mouth-watering meal!

I have recently become a fan of Trader Joes frozen foods (I know, I'm a late bloomer!!) I wasn't sure how these Tilapia Fillets would taste, but so far, I have enjoyed everything I have purchased there, so it couldn't be that bad.

I remembered I had prosciutto in the fridge...I bought it while at Trader Joes not knowing what I would do with it, so I started looking around at what else I had...Ah-ha!!! Frozen Tilapia Fillets!!﻿

So, I wrapped 2 pieces of prosciutto around the fillets and baked them following the instructions on the box. I chose to flip them after 10 minutes for crispier fillets (recommendation on the box!)

While that was baking, I prepared my toppings. I figured prosciutto was more of an Italian meat, so I went with Italian ingredients for the topping. I had feta cheese in the fridge, yay, basil in my garden, brilliant, and always on hand, I had balsamic vinegar.

I sliced up the basil and simply combined the three ingredients until it looked like this. I didn't want it to be to balsamic tasting, so I only added enough to soak into the feta.

When my fillets were done, I transferred them to a plate and topped it with the feta mixture; added a salad and began devouring it!!! I was pretty hungry!!!﻿

Seriously, Trader Joes! Go get some and make an easy dinner for your family tonight!!!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

As you read this post, I will be on my way to California to visit my family...my Aunts, Madi, and my sister-in-laws (well brother-in-laws too)! I am super excited and can't wait to see everybody. So instead of rushing a post, I decided to share our 1st post as 'Snippets of Creations'.

Enjoy the recap (if you have already read this post) and if you haven't...enjoy for the first time.

Welcome to Snippets of Creations! We are excited to begin this journey of sharing our ideas and creations of projects, home décor, food, and gifts.

For our first post, I (Julie) want to share this fun project with you. I saw a post about 'How to make a Vintage Spoon Key Chain' on Facebook. It was from Eclectically Vintage (one of my favorites). So I thought...I think I will try this, seems easy enough! Well, I am one that does not read instructions, so I just jumped in and had issues with the first one I made.

Of course I had to involve my partner in crafts...Tabatha (she also happens to be my best friend). We headed to one of the antique stores in town & bought some spoons! My daughter was getting ready to leave for Baking & Culinary school soon, so I wanted to make her something special! Since my kids were little we have always said, "I love you to the moon & back," so I thought this would be a great way for her to remember that her mom will ALWAYS love her to the moon and back! This first picture is of her finished spoon. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be (maybe because I didn't read the instructions) & by all means, it is not perfect, but is still special to her!

When Kerri and I decided to create a blog together, we wanted to have an easy project for our first post and what's easier than pounding on some metal? So here it goes!

First of all, you have to get some antique spoons, or any kind of spoon you like!

Tabatha and I headed to the antique store for more spoons. They are only $2.00 each at one of our local antique stores!

Here is a picture of the spoons I found for our 'Snippets of Creations' spoons (Kerri & I wanted to represent our blog by having matching key chains)!

The first thing you need to do is pound out the roundness of the spoon. I am lucky because my new craft room has concrete floors, so I don't have to go outside (in the heat) to pound on the spoons!

See the difference of the regular spoon and the flattened spoon.

Then you need some type of tape (I used the blue paint tape), to make a straight line for the words. This also helped keep the spoon in place while I stamped the words on the spoons. I wrote out the words so I wouldn't misspell them (hence the stolen paint card with our blog name on it)!

After you are finished stamping the words on the spoon you have to use the sharpie marker to darken the letters (I forgot to take a picture of this step...rookie mistake). Then I sprayed a little glass cleaner onto a rag and wiped off the excess ink.

Next, you need to bend the handle to make your loop for the key ring. I had to go out in the HOT garage for this step! My husband has a vice grip attached to his workbench, which I found to be the easiest way to start the bend in the spoon.

Once you get the bend started, you can take it out of the vice grip and finish bending the spoon with your hands and a hammer (to flatten the bend).

You can see here how the spoon's handle tip is flat and pressed up against the spoon.

After you have finished bending the spoon, you need to attach the key ring (another picture I forgot to take...sorry!). Then you can put ribbon on it to add a little detail! I put a little dab of hot glue to help it stay. Mine is the one with the mustache ribbon and Kerri's has the green ribbon (Kerri's ribbon fell off, even with the hot glue).

I hope you enjoyed our first post and come back for more 'Snippets of Creations' in the future!

Since this post, I have made several different spoons and have some for sale in my Etsy shop (tab at the top of the page)...you should check them out! I even painted some.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

A while back I was wrapping a gift for my friend's son and I thought, "How cute would it be to have a personalized gift tag?!" So, I went to work on PicMonkey and came up with this:

The gift was for a boy, so I went with brown paper wrapping paper and I thought a 'postage' tag would be suitable to go along with the it so that it looked like a package!! Note: if it was a gift for a girl, I would have maybe painted polka dots on the paper and of course used different color baker's twine ;)

I printed them on brown paper, which you can find in the scrap booking section of your favorite craft store. I know JoAnn's & Michael's sell it in a package in case you didn't want to buy single sheets.

I made some that say "Happy Birthday" and "For You" just in case you want to use them for a thank you gift or something other than a birthday gift!

I love how they turned out!﻿ They are so simple and they are yours for FREE!!!

Just click on the picture below, save it to your computer, print it and cut them out!

Monday, May 19, 2014

Last week I shared with you a 'mini wall makeover' in my bedroom and today I am going to share with you another, which houses my jewelry. I usually have my jewelry in my bathroom, but I was getting tired of how unorganized it was and taking up too much space.

So this is what I came up with:

The board I used was a drawer front. It was from an outside dresser that fell apart. I wasn't sure about what I wanted to do with the drawers, so I just left them outside. Well...with the different weather we have here in Colorado it wrecked havoc on them and when I finally decided what to do with them, they fell apart when I picked them up to move them! The knobs didn't fall off, which worked out perfect because there would have holes that would have needed to be filled.

Ok...enough will all of that and onto making the board.

I laid out the knobs where I wanted them and my husband screwed them onto the board for me. You can see a tutorial here from a jewelry holder I made awhile back. When he was finished attaching the knobs he put a picture hanger on the back of the board, then hung it on the wall.

I realized I needed somewhere to put my cuffs (these are a new obsession), so I walked around my house looking for something to use and I found that little wire basket.
It works perfectly...don't you think?

I want to share with you another obsession I have...necklaces from HEartbyCC(click on the link to see what she has)! All I can say, is I absolutely love all of my necklaces and I love the message they send. Every time I wear them I get compliments! The bottom right was a giveaway on Instagram and I WON! Thank you Candice for your beautiful art work and the message that each piece gives, not only that...thank you for the blessings you pray over each piece that you send out!

Have a MARVELOUS Monday!
I know I will (because we only have 2 more days of school)!
~Julie

Friday, May 16, 2014

It's Food Frenzy Friday and today I want to share with you a delicious sandwich that is my go-to when I need to feel like I'm dining at a restaurant.

As a stay-at-home-mom, it's easy to make a quick PB&J and call it a day, but this sandwich knocks the PB & J out of the park! And, it doesn't take that much work to make it!!

Looks delicious and tastes amazing!!! The beauty is that it's healthy and only 8 Weight Watcher points!!!

All you need is:

Toasted Bread of your choice (I use Oroweat Country Buttermilk)

1/4 of an Avocado

1 Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge (light)

Tomatoes & Cucumbers ~ as many as you want!!!

Place your bread in the toaster and while it's toasting, slice up your avocado, tomato and cucumbers. When your bread is done to your 'toastyness', spread on your cheese and stack on the veggies! Finally, enjoy!! It's soooooo yummy!

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

I have had this ugly wall in my bedroom since we have lived here...that would be about 4 years! So I finally decided it was time to do something about it. I came up with an idea and told my husband about it and of course that evening he had it finished. I like to think I could have made the box on my own, but to be honest with you...I didn't feel like doing it!

Do you see what I mean...that stuff is ugly, but we would have to patch the wall and then it would probably be worse. So why not make something to cover it. We have been great 'masters of disguise' when it has come to the quirkiness of this house. The light switch is ugly too, but we can't do anything about that. Well, I think I might try to paint it and put a varnish on it so it doesn't scratch off.

The first thing I did was find the wood I wanted to use...of course it was part of an old pallet (I used the other part for Crew's Advent Calendar). We found a piece that was able to be cut into 3 pieces (the width of the area). Then Craig took an old piece of flooring and cut it to make the side pieces (2 of them). After that, he stapled the 3 pieces to each side piece and he was done! Yes, it was that simple...in fact so simple that I forgot to take pictures of that step!

After Craig hung it on the wall he hung the picture I wanted (this is one from our family photos that Kandis from Kandis Marino Photography took and then I sent it to Photobarn) on it and the 'Spooning Since' art above it. You can find the 'Spooning Since...' in my Etsy shop. It can be customized for your names and date.

It is finally done, after all of this time and I absolutely love it. Now, I just have to do something about the light switch. I will share it when I get it done.

Monday, May 12, 2014

This last week was Teacher Appreciation at my daughter's school and since there are six teachers, I'm always looking for cute, inexpensive and personal gifts for each of them.

I went looking for inspiration on Pinterest and found this adorable idea:

I followed the link and saw that the sign was a personal pdf which was being sold on Etsy. I'm sure I could have made it easy for myself and purchased 6 of them, but I liked the challenge of making them myself, so this is what I came up with:

I used PicMonkey to create the sign and then stuck it on cardstock that I already had. I hot-glued the signs to the wooden rulers, which I purchased at Staples (FYI, I had to hunt for them...no one sells wooden rulers anymore.) The basil and pots I bought at Home Depot. I went with basil instead of flowers because I wanted to give the girls something they could use. Basil gets used a lot in my house!

I purchased these colorful bags at Target and stuck the pots inside! Easy, quick and so cute!!

If you don't have the time to make your own signs, click here to go to Starflight's Etsy page where she sells them for only $4.50!

My daughter's teachers truly make a difference in my daughter's life, which is helpful for me at home; I genuinely appreciate them!

Friday, May 9, 2014

I still have a few more things to finish up to complete the workshop, but for now it is functional and works well! The things I want to do are for aesthetic purposes not functionality.

Tabatha's (my BFF) husband was able to get us some desktops from his work and my husband made the base with scrap wood that we had in the garage. That will be painted this summer when I have time...it's pretty rough looking, but it works for now. I bought a drop cloth from Lowes and covered the work space with it.

I put my scrapbook paper in the filing cabinet, along with some of my extra supplies...it works so well, because I can also roll it around the room if I am being lazy and don't want to get up. I know...ridiculous, just being honest!

Do you like those pillows stuck in the window back there? My kids did that when they had the T.V. down there. I have put up curtains, but I haven't taken a picture of those yet...I will share that later.

I needed my barstool to be a little taller, so we put a pillow on top of it and covered it with some of the extra drop cloth from the table top. The old tool box that I have in the middle of the table was out in my husband's shed and I stole it! I love it! It houses all of my paint and the supplies that I use the most.

Like I said, there are a few things I want to do this summer to beautify my work space, but for now...it works well and I love being down in the basement. When I am finished beautifying the space I will snap some photos and share them with you!

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there...you truly have the hardest job in the world, but it is worth it.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Mother's Day is THIS SUNDAY and if you are still trying to figure out what to get your mom, let me help you!

This is a quick and easy project and it is something they will always treasure.

Whether you want to do this for your mom from you, for your mom from the grandkids, or for your wife from you and/or the kids, this is your project!!!

Okay, so here are the easy steps to making these adorable blocks!

Step one, sand your blocks. I had my husband cut these blocks out of wood we already had lying around in the garage. He used a 2x4 and cut them about 5" in length (but you make them the size you want!)

Since he used a miter saw, I had to lightly sand the edges to smooth it up a bit and avoid splinters!

Next step is to spray paint them. I used flat spray paint (this time I used Valspar since my husband was going to Lowe's and they don't carry Rustoleum, which is what I usually use.) I chose white for my mother's blocks and black for my Mother-In-Law's blocks in order to match their home décor. I sprayed one side and all the edges then waited about 30 minutes to dry and flipped them over to spray the other side and edges again.

After the blocks were dry, it was time to apply the photos. I had already cropped and cut them to size (note: you will want to print them on cardstock in order to get the look you want).

I applied a medium thick coat of Mod Podge onto the back of the photo and smoothed it evenly onto the block. I then flipped it over, photo side down, to dry.

When the photos were dry, I took the blocks back outside to sand the edges again. I like the distressed look and sanding the edges of the blocks AND the photos give it that vintage look. I did have to trim up some of the sides on a few blocks, but it didn't matter if my cuts were uneven because the sanding took care of that!

Next, I applied the letters. For my Mother-In-Law's I used vinyl letters (which I cut out using my Cricut), but for my mom's I had to use cardstock because the white vinyl letters got lost in the photos and I didn't have blue vinyl. It works just as well. Since the cardstock doesn't have a sticky back like the vinyl, I put a little Mod Podge on the back of the letter and 'glued' it on! Voilà!

(If you don't have a Cricut, you can purchase letter stickers in the scrapbooking section of your favorite craft store).

I then applied one more 'thin' layer of Mod Podge over the photo to seal it in. I applied it a little thicker over the cardstock letters for an extra seal!

When the Mod Podge was dry I thought I was done, but it still needed a little something. So, I added a little flare with the jute and buttons! I love the way it turned out.